Having firmly established his sci-fi credentials with
Independence Day
and
Men in Black,
Will Smith
returns to the genre in this fast-paced, action-packed, but extremely loose adaptation of Isaac Asimov's influential robot stories. The year is 2035, and technophobe Chicago cop Del Spooner (Smith) is assigned to investigate the supposedly accidental death of a brilliant scientist, Dr. Alfred Lanning (
James Cromwell
). Del eventually has reason to believe that Lanning was actually murdered by a robot, Sonny (voiced by
Alan Tudyk
), one of a new line that's being rolled out all over the world. There's just one problem with his theory: Robots are programmed to never harm human beings. Or are they? Director
Alex Proyas
-- no sci-fi slouch himself, having helmed the stylish
Dark City
The Crow
-- doesn't waste too much footage on the scientific aspects of robotics; he develops the story like a classic whodunit at first, allowing Spooner to interact with a beautiful assistant (
Bridget Moynahan
), his increasingly impatient lieutenant (
Chi McBride
), and the guilty-looking CEO of the company that makes the robots ({|Bruce Greenwood|}). Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics are briefly outlined, but the author's subtleties regarding ethics don't make it to the screen. Once certain critical revelations are made, Proyas switches into high gear; the pace picks up and
I, Robot
turns into a slam-bang action movie that taxes the ingenuity of special-effects wizards already challenged by mingling thousands of computer-generated robots with an equal number of humans. Aside from the fact that Smith seems to be exploiting his already established persona instead of portraying a new character, the film works surprisingly well, even though the "surprise" plot twist is telegraphed well in advance. While Asimov's stories probably deserved a more cerebral adaptation, the movie doesn't stint on any of the elements generally thought to make contemporary sci-fi offerings successful with audiences.